Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food Unconventional
by David Scott Allen
Winery: Domaine de la Vivonne
Cuvée: Vivonne
Appellation: Côtes de Provence
Type: Rosé
Vintage: 2024
Grape Varieties: 40% Cinsault, 30% Grenache, 30% Mourvèdre
Alcohol: 13%
Average Retail Price: U.S. $18.00
Convention and considerable knowledge tell us that there are certain foods that do not pair well with wine. I’m not talking about the debunked “no white wine with beef, or red wine with fish” myths. I’m talking about “difficult” food items, mostly in the vegetable arena: artichokes, broccoli, fennel, pickles, chiles, cilantro, asparagus. Anyone worth their weight in lees knows how to get around these limitations: first, consider all the ingredients and then be thoughtful in choosing the wine — you will (may?) be fine.
Me? All my weight is in cream, butter, pasta, cheese, and chocolate — not lees. So I just forge ahead, cross my fingers, chill my wine, and go for it, as I did today. I recreated a meal I had in Santa Fe: Grilled Halibut on Asparagus Risotto with Mango Cream (you can get the recipe on Cocoa & Lavender). Œnologically speaking, there is a lot of difficulty with this dish for a wine pairing. The fish was a slam dunk but the asparagus risotto? The mango cream? True challenges that I pretty much ignored.
I paired the dish with a Domaine de la Vivonne organic rosé from the Côtes de Provence appellation. The wine is a beautiful pale salmon pink, with aromas of red fruit and citrus. On the palate it is bright and a bit flinty, with flavors of strawberry, red currant, grapefruit and tangerine. It is medium-to-full bodied with a pleasantly tart mouthfeel. On the finish, I tasted grapefruit and light woodsmoke. It is well-balanced and a lovely wine.
How did it pair? Excellent question, readers. I was pretty fortunate this time around. In creating the recipe, I used a minimal amount of asparagus, which truly helped in my endeavor. For a test, I cooked some asparagus separately and tasted it with the wine; not good. So, something in the process of making the risotto changed the chemical makeup of the offending spears and it was just fine. Now, about that mango cream. I can’t say that the pairing was perfect but it wasn’t bad. However, a bite combining the fish, risotto, and mango cream was a very happy pairing with the wine.
I can easily see this wine at your next apéro with a charcuterie board; cheese-wise, I would tend toward fresh cheeses like chèvre. it definitely pairs beautifully with grilled fish and seafood (the smoke from the grilling really brings out the flavor).
It is readily available in the US and the Prince point is quite good. I found it priced as low as $16.00.
The Vivonne rosé sounds like the perfect match for the Halibut and asparagus risotto! It’s definitely rosé season! I’m going to look for it.
That sounds like an excellent Côtes de Provence. I often find that rosés work better with unconventional food combinations, being lighter than most reds and slightly less acidic than most whites. Grapefruit and woodsmoke sounds very good!